(Motorsport-Total.com) – As a Formula 3 champion and one of Oscar Piastri’s main rivals in the junior categories, Victor Martins did not quite make the jump to Formula 1. However, the current Alpine Hypercar driver, who is rumored to be moving to Formula E with Nissan, also holds a key position at Williams as a test and development driver.
Read more Ferrari: Does the engine upgrade for Monza bring the turnaround in the World Championship?
At the Belgian Grand Prix, where he was on standby for Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon, he spoke extensively with the global voice output of Motorsport.com, a sister portal of Motorsport-Total.com in the Motorsport Network, about his role.
Question: “Let’s talk about your current role at Williams. Can you explain what influence you have on the car?”
As a Formula 3 champion and one of Oscar Piastri’s main rivals in the junior categories, Victor Martins did not quite make the jump to Formula 1. However, the current Alpine Hypercar driver, who is rumored to be moving to Formula E with Nissan, also holds a key position at Williams as a test and development driver.
At the Belgian Grand Prix, where he was on standby for Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon, he spoke extensively with the global voice output of Motorsport.com, a sister portal of Motorsport-Total.com in the Motorsport Network, about his role.
Question: “Let’s talk about your current role at Williams. Can you explain what influence you have on the car?”
Victor Martins: “I can influence the car, but is it direct? Not necessarily, I would say, because there are many people in the team, many departments, many things to improve and analyze – so I would rather say ‘direct’ is no.”
“But to be involved in development, yes – whether mainly in the simulator, by testing the energy management for the upcoming track before each weekend, or by preparing the arrival of Alex and Carlos so they can work on other things that might be more important to them.”
“I will not have a direct influence on things like changing a suspension because I have not tested the car in reality to this day, but I will accelerate this development. I try to bring in my experience and feedback so they get the most precise and best possible information.”
The most promising juniors of the Formula 1 teams 2026
“Then I try to maintain a fairly close relationship with Carlos and Alex to understand which areas we need to work on with the car – what is good and what is not good, what we need to improve and what we should focus on.”
“It is important for me to spend time here (at the track; editor’s note) to then return to the factory and give good feedback as well as focus on the right things for this year’s FW48. But it is also good for my career to continue learning from an F1 team and to keep a foot in the door as a reserve driver at a few races, so I see this very positively.”
Time in the real car would be helpful
Question: “Doesn’t it make things trickier to sit in the simulator without having driven the actual car?”
Martins: “It does. But we know how difficult it is to collect real kilometers in the car – you don’t get many FP1 chances, there isn’t much time, these are not easy things for a driver.”
“So yes, I would like to; I would say I put pressure every day and hope for such chances every day. But I still have enough feedback and experience to observe and listen to what happens with the car out on the track; to replicate it in the simulator, to feel it, understand it, and know how to proceed from there.”
“If I had the opportunity to drive the car tomorrow, that would of course be invaluable for the entire development of the simulator, the car, the correlation – basically for almost everyone and all departments.”
Question: “Did the team give you any advance warning that you might take the wheel this year?”
Martins: “At the moment, there are no FP1 plans. I have a few TPC days (Testing of Previous Cars; editor’s note), I already had a day in Silverstone earlier this year, but not with this car.”
“For now, nothing is planned for me, but as I said, things can change in F1. You must not rush or be desperate, you just have to do the job when needed, be professional, give the right feedback, maintain the right relationship, and maybe they will give me the car sometime this year.”
Read more Sergio Perez criticizes Cadillac: Haven’t developed enough!
Two simulators in parallel
Question: “You are also developing a simulator specifically for the junior academy. How does its development differ compared to a normal simulator?”
Martins: “It is actually quite similar because in the simulator I drive for this year’s FW48, we try to replicate the car’s movements, its problems, its strengths and weaknesses, as well as the driving feel to further develop it.”
“With the simulator for junior development, we try to get as close as possible to the driving behavior of a car on the track, so it is naturally similar. But we try to work with models from the junior categories – F3, F2 – to reproduce everything they might have in the junior categories. But there are similarities, in the end it is the same.”
“It is simply up to me to bring in my F2/F3 experience regarding the Pirelli tires, the car, the engines, the process, and their behavior – just to replicate and reproduce that.”
Question: “Is it mainly about having two simulators that can be used simultaneously in the end?”
Martins: “Yes. Simultaneously, not on the weekend, but for example on a Tuesday at the factory: There is the simulator that works all year on the development of the FW48, and a few meters away a simulator that runs to help the junior drivers.”
“So that is the goal, but it is not at all the same objective, neither the same program nor the same project. One is for F1 and the other for the junior drivers of the academy – so these are two completely different things, but yes, they can run simultaneously.”
Still hope for the Formula 1 breakthrough
Question: Alex Albon said that many resources are being spent on next year’s FW49. Have you already worked on it?”
Martins: “Yes, but we are a large driver pool, so we have different tasks and goals. Currently, I think I am more focused on the ongoing development of the FW48, so supporting at race weekends.”
“For example, I was still in the simulator yesterday (Thursday before the Belgian GP; editor’s note) to prepare for this weekend and make the final adjustments to energy management, so I focus more on that. But I have also been able to test a few times this year what is coming in the next years, how these cars behave compared to this year’s car, and which paths we need to take.”
“Of course, many engineers are dedicated to this development, but when you are in an F1 team, you certainly work with many people on many different topics. It is almost funny how sometimes you meet someone you have never seen before because you never worked on this or that, or someone you just met yesterday because this engineer just started.”
“There are many of us in an F1 team, which means a lot of staff and many topics, many things to analyze. We are constantly evolving and discovering new things every day – even in my role as a test and development driver in the simulator.”
The Williams design for 2026
Question: “You said earlier that it is good for your career to be here. Does that mean you are still thinking about Formula 1, and what does your future look like?”
Martins: “I make no secret of the fact that I am still thinking about F1. But I also think about the WEC or Formula E, because in my opinion, these are the three most important and sought-after categories in motorsport for the best drivers in the world. So for me, it is just as important to have a foot in the door of the WEC, one in Formula E, and one in F1.”
“So yes, that remains a goal, reaching F1 is still a dream. That is why I keep this foot in the door at Williams – with a role that personally brings me a lot as a driver in terms of approach, learning new things about the technology and the car.”
“For example, the electrical side of F1 can bring me great things if I later switch to Formula E in my career; so there are many connections between all these categories. The Hypercar systems are very similar to the F1 systems, so I can also bring things I learn here into the Hypercar at Alpine. So it is an advantage, whatever happens in my career, and it could one day – you never know – give me the chance to drive in F1.”
Read more Red Bull will keep Verstappen — but everything depends on one factor